 Eli Manning is confident heading into Sunday's game. (FILE:Icon/SMI) |
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is aware of what he's up against when his team comes to town this weekend.
He sees a Patriots secondary that is struggling and an opportunity to exploit that when they visit Gillette Stadium this weekend. Manning was fairly candid with the New York media Wednesday, but said that his team "should have a plan" to have some success against them on Sunday.
"They mix things up," said Manning when asked about the Patriots defensive backfield. "The safeties do a good job of disguising, not tipping their hands at exactly what they're doing. We should have a plan for that.
"We can run our offense efficiently at these guys, making the right decisions, picking up some of their blitzes and guys just making plays when they're given opportunities."
The Giants are currently ranked 11th in the NFL in offensive yards per game, averaging 373.1. New York finished with 402 NET yards of total offense in a 20-17 win over the Dolphins on Sunday, with Manning throwing for 349 yards and two touchdowns.
Now he'll see if he can have another successful outing against the Patriots, who Manning admitted he was looking forward to facing this weekend.
"Definitely," said Manning when asked if he "relished" the opportunity to play a team like New England. "These games are fun. When you think of the Patriots you just think of a team that's always in the playoff picture, always a talented team and well coached. These are easy games that we get excited for and you just want to go in there and play the style of football that we know we can."
Manning was also asked directly whether or not there were things in New England's defense that he was confident they could take advantage of.
"Well yeah," said Manning. "Obviously there are some things we're hoping, when you watch film, prepare, that we see some plays that should work. It's still a matter of execution, everybody doing the right things, guys blocking up and also just staying in good down and distance, being able to run the ball and get positive yards. Don't have penalties. Don't take sacks. Stay in good rhythm.
"Obviously we've had a good week of preparation. They'll always have something new, something different to try to slow us down. But we'll see what that is, make adjustments and go on."
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